Principal Scientist, Fungal Physiology and Liquid Fermentation R&D | Biotech Startup (Chicago, [...]

You've spent your career learning how filamentous fungi actually behave in submerged culture, and you've watched company after company bolt that expertise onto a process engineering org as a nice-to-have. This is the role where fungal physiology is the primary asset, and the engineering team is already built around you. Not in Chicago? Relocation assistance is available.This is a Principal Scientist seat that is an individual contributor by design. There are no direct reports today, and none are planned. If you have already led a team and realized what you actually want is to be back at the bench driving the science, we would rather have that version of you than force the title to match a people-manager job that does not exist.Pave Talent is hiring on behalf of our client, a Chicago-based biotech commercializing a proprietary filamentous fungal protein platform with applications in food ingredients, biomaterials, and an emerging pharmaceutical program. The company is roughly 70 to 75 people, privately held, and consolidated into a single pilot facility in Chicago.The team today is engineering-heavy. Scale up and process engineering are in-house, mature, and not what this seat needs to solve. What is missing is the scientist who can go deeper on the biology: someone who understands filamentous fungal physiology at a fundamental level, who designs and leads their own experiments end to end, and who can reason about what the organism is actually doing when media changes, when a feeding strategy shifts, when titer moves in a direction no one predicted.ResponsibilitiesOwn media optimization as an end-to-end scientific project: hypothesize, design, run, interpret, and defend the conclusions.Investigate how filamentous fungal physiology responds to changes in media composition, feed strategy, and environmental conditions, and translate those findings into process decisions the engineering team can act on.Design and lead your own fermentation experiments at bench and pilot scale (50 L to 500 L) with commercial context already in place.Serve as the scientific subject matter expert across the team, the interpreter between what the organism is doing biologically and what the product, cost, and quality targets require.Apply statistical DOE and upstream bioprocess data analysis to find the real signal inside noisy fermentation datasets.Operate, troubleshoot, and diagnose bioreactors at the biology level, not just the mechanical level.Partner cross-functionally with R&D, engineering, and downstream processing so that fermentation outputs land inside product specifications, and so the rest of the org learns to reason about the organism the way you do.Contribute to SOPs, experimental records, and process documentation as the platform matures.QualificationsPhD in Microbiology, Mycology, Fungal Biology, Bioprocess, or a closely related discipline (MS with 10+ years of directly relevant filamentous fungal fermentation R&D experience also considered).Deep, hands-on experience with filamentous fungi in submerged liquid fermentation, recent and personal.Demonstrated media optimization experience, with a real point of view on how strain behavior moves with media composition.Track record of independently designing, leading, and concluding experiments you owned.Bioreactor operation, troubleshooting, and biological diagnosis at bench and pilot scale.Proficiency in statistical DOE and fermentation data analysis.Comfort in a true startup environment: ambiguity, lean resources, shifting priorities.Willing and able to work on-site in Chicago (relocation supported).Prior Fusarium experience, or experience with Aspergillus, Trichoderma, Neurospora, or Penicillium.Background in alternative proteins, food biotech, or biomaterials.Techno-economic assessment or cost optimization exposure.Previously led teams and made a deliberate choice to return to the bench.Experience in non-GMP, BSL-1 environments.Already located in Chicago or with concrete Chicago ties.BenefitsBase Salary: $140,000 to $178,000 (base in the $150s, with up to 15% flex on either side based on depth and scope)Bonus: 10 to 15% target annual bonusEquity: Employee Stock Ownership Program (ESOP); all employees eligibleMedical / Dental / Vision: Multiple plan options; several are 100% employer-paidRelocation: Sign-on bonus available, structured by distance and number of dependentsWork Model: On-site at the Chicago pilot plantJ-18808-Ljbffr